Company Bringing Jobs To Oklahoma

Thursday, May 3rd 2007, 10:20 am

By: News On 6

The winds of fortune are blowing toward Tulsa once again. A North Dakota company has plans to buy an existing Tulsa factory and hire 450 people to make windmill towers. The winds come sweeping down the plain in Oklahoma, but they've got some of the same in North Dakota, where a windmill farm is located and where massive windmill towers are manufactured. News On 6 business reporter Steve Berg reports DMI Industries and its Otter Tail subsidiary is rapidly expanding its production capacity, adding a Canadian plant last year and Tulsa plant this year.

"They will take over an existing facility,â€ said Sheila Curley of the chamber of commerce. â€œWe know they will take over an existing facility and use up to as much as 500,000 square feet."

Curley says they've been talking with DMI for months. The exact location of the Tulsa plant is hush-hush because DMI has not finalized the purchase, and it's not clear what the plant is doing now, but she says the 450 jobs will be brand new jobs created.

"We are growing at a faster pace than the rest of the nation, in fact the rest of the state of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and the rest of the nation,â€ said Curley. â€œWe're growing at about a 2.6% rate right now."

DMI says a key factor in locating here is the Port of Catoosa and its ability to connect to ocean ports. One of its big growth markets right now is supplying towers to offshore windmill farms, which they say are larger than their land-based counterparts. DMI says the location here will allow them to ship to rapidly growing markets in Europe and South America.

DMI says it will be upgrading and customizing its Tulsa plant. They hope to have it ready to go by early 2008.

For more information on DMI, click here.

Related story:

5/2/2007 West Fargo Company To Acquire Tulsa Plant

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